Posted on 01/28/2009 6:24:51 AM PST by PROCON
While there is a lot of waste, there is a ton of recycling that has always gone on. I didn’t know people actually threw newspapers away until I was in my 20’s. I grew up in the 70’s and there was always a separate “tree saver” for newspaper. Coffee cans had multiple uses and there wasn’t much tupperware or rubbermaid. We had empty cottage cheese containers.
I met someone who worked for a paper company who said that they’d always used recycled materials. Used newspapers were part of the raw material supply.
It’s a shame the carpet business failed.
When recycling makes sense it’s profitable and doesn’t need the government to be putting out extra trash cans. Most of the recycling we do is feel good and a complete waste of time, most of the stuff they push us to recycle costs more to process than to just use new materials.
That, and we wouldn’t have to import so much material.
That’s right, if the greenies were really interested in recycling they’d be pushing for some kind of deposits or recycle centers that paid for paper by the pound.
I think we all grew up that way Diana. You just found a use for everything. I was looking around the other day and thinking “how did I get this old without ever buying a new piece of furniture” LOL
I think you are missing the point. While there are certainly public waste collection agencies, there are also large private companies such as Waste Management. If they provided the cans, then a household could get a credit every time it was picked up against their bill, since the company will now recycle and sell the material. There would not be a large credit, but it would supply more raw material to American manufacturers.
Carpet is interesting because there is tons and tons of it. They used to talk about bringing it in in train cars. The nylon pellets can be reused for numerous applications. Price of plastics would go down if there was a cheaper recycled product. It is simple economics. recycling can be profitable.
I understand entirely. Recycling CAN be profitable, but most of the recycling we do in this country (and Europe) is not profitable, which is why sections of the government mandate it.
I’m all for non-government mandated privately run for profit recycling.
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